English for personal assistants - part 4 ppsx

(7) , the administrative secretary has got rather set in her ways, and (8) ,
is still refusing to use the new software. I (9) recommend that she should be
invited to retire early, (10) we will have complete chaos as far as record keeping
is concerned. If we were to appoint a more flexible and better trained secretary to
replace her, there would be several advantages over the present arrangements. (11)
, we could put her in charge of updating all the information in the department
and (12) reduce the burden on the person in charge of ordering from the stores.
We might (13) ask her to take a more active part in producing the annual report
for R&D than her predecessor has done.
(14) , I would argue that we approach the appropriate union, and suggest that
the present administrative secretary should be retired early and, (15) , that her
job should be upgraded to Grade 2. (16) I would be prepared to draw up a new
job description pending your agreement.
Telephoning in English
Leaving a voicemail
Hints on voicemail organisation:
᭤ top down not bottom up e.g., give the main message but don’t supply all the details
᭤ content not process
᭤ synthesis not summary e.g., state what the message is and the actions you’d like the
other person to take
Tips on leaving a voicemail:
᭤
no longer than 60 seconds
᭤
summarise the purpose of your message in a sentence or two
᭤
give your name and telephone number early in the message
᭤
speak slowly and distinctly
᭤
give the recipient enough information to act

᭤
say when you will be able to receive a return call
Leaving a message in your own voicemail:
᭤
give your name clearly
᭤
say when you will be available to receive a call
᭤
do not say ‘speak after the tone’
᭤
do not say ‘you have reached the voicemail of ’ – we all have enough experience
of using the telephone and leaving messages!
Telephoning in English 15
Expressions you can use when you leave a voicemail:
Starting the message Hello, this is
Saying the day/time you are leaving the
message
It’s Tuesday June 10
It’s 10 a.m.
Giving the reason for your call I urgently need to talk to you about
Leaving your number Please call me back on
I will be in the office until
᭿
Task 5
Leave a voicemail in the following situations:
1. Your boss has a meeting arranged at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning (Thursday) with Mr
Smith but he has just called you to tell you that he is held up in Italy and has asked
you to ring to cancel the meeting and make another appointment. He will be
available Friday afternoon and then not until Tuesday of the next week. Leave a
voicemail for Mr Smith. Jot down what you are going to say in the call.

2. You are arranging a conference call between your boss and Mr Wang in Taiwan.
Ring Mr Wang’s PA and leave her a voicemail asking at what time GMT it would
suit Mr Wang to receive a call from your boss. Jot down what you are going to say
in the call.
Arranging a meeting
The scenario:
You work as PA to Karl Braun, the European marketing director of MicroX, a US
software company which has its European headquarters in Munich. Your boss reports
to the marketing director in the US. MicroX has 15 subsidiaries all over Europe and
marketing meetings for all European marketing managers are held monthly in
Munich. However, your boss has received an email from Clara Sullivan, the marketing
director in the US HQ in Texas, asking him to change the venue of the next marketing
meeting from Munich to Rome as accommodation costs are cheaper there. Clara
thinks it would be good to rotate the venue of the monthly marketing meetings
throughout the European subsidiaries and preferably to cheaper locations than
Munich. She would also like to attend the next European marketing meeting. You
have already emailed all the marketing managers informing them of the change of
venue – some were very happy about it but others less so, especially Ana Ribero from
Madrid who left you this message:
“This is Ana Ribero from MicroX Madrid. About the meeting in Rome, I think this is a
bad idea as it will cut heavily into my working time and I will still have to come to
Munich anyhow to talk to my colleagues in R&D – so let’s keep the venue in Munich as
usual.”
16 Communicating with clarity
Karl Braun, your boss, has asked you to phone Ana on his behalf to inform her that
the meeting will take place in Rome and to persuade her to come. Before you make
the call, plan your strategy:
᭤
is it a good idea to mention that the change of venue is Clara’s idea?
᭤

what advantages can you present to her for having the meeting in Rome? For
example, it’s a good idea to visit other European subsidiaries; accommodation
costs are cheaper; perhaps the next meeting could be held in Madrid etc.
᭤
you could offer to help her with her travel arrangements
᭤
perhaps you could send her any important information she needs from R&D
᭿
Task 6
Jot down what you are going to say in the call. Here are some expressions you can use
to help you with the call.
Stage Marker Expression
Identification Ah, Hello. This is
Is that ?
Preliminaries Mr, X
George
How are things in (Madrid)?
What’s the weather like?
Business Listen, Mr Y
Look,
I’m calling about
I wonder if you can help me?
I’ve got a bit of a problem with
Summary So, just to confirm then
So, let’s sum up
I’ll send you
I’ll meet you at
Check OK?
Alright then?
Termination Good. Well

Goodbye then.
I look forward to hearing from you/
seeing you on
You have phoned Ana and she has agreed to come to Rome – she is not happy about
it but you were sufficiently persuasive. Then you receive a voicemail from Clara
Sullivan:
“This is Clara Sullivan from MicroX, Texas. I’m calling about the meeting in Rome next
week. It’s got to be in Oslo not Rome because I have another meeting scheduled in
Oslo. Could you let your people know please?”
Telephoning in English 17
That’s put the cat amongst the pigeons – several managers are already unhappy about
going to Rome and now they will have to be told at this late date that the location has
been changed yet again. Karl Braun, your boss, hands you this email – his English is
not great – and asks you to put it into good English and send it off to the marketing
managers.
You know that your boss is sometimes over-direct in his approach to people and that
you will need to rewrite his draft in a more diplomatic and tactful style.
᭿
Task 7
Using your boss’s draft below, produce an improved version of his email. You can
leave out or add information as well as amend the text, if you feel it is necessary.
Email:
18 Communicating with clarity
To: Mr X, Marketing Manager
From: Karl Braun, European Marketing Manager
Subject: changing the meeting again
We have to change the venue of the next meeting from Rome to Oslo.
So please ignore yesterday’s email. The reason of the change is that Clara Sullivan
has a meeting in Oslo on the same day. So it’s convenient for her to join us at the
meeting. Meeting her is very useful for us all so we are very pleased by this.

Sorry about this confusion, but the new plan is for the best.
I or my Personal Assistant will call you in the next few days to discuss about the
meeting. Please be ready with any special requests you have in connection with the
agenda.
We will be here to help you with any problems with travel arrangements.
Sorry again!
Regards
Karl Braun
Set business phrases
Here are expressions you can use to help you write the email. They can also be used in
business letters.
Telephoning in English 19
References
Thank you for your email of
Further to our telephone conversation yesterday
Requests
We should be grateful if you would/could
Would you be so kind as to
We should appreciate it if you could
Could you please
Would you mind ing
Please let me know when/how much/if
Expressing urgency and necessity
as soon as you possibly can
I am sure you will realise that
It is essential that
Expressing willingness and offers to help
We are/should be (quite) prepared to
We should be willing to
Would you like us to

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if we can be of any (further)
assistance/if you need any (further) information
Making suggestions and proposals
Might/May we suggest that
One possible solution would be to
We propose to
We are planning to
Asking for approval
We (sincerely) hope/trust that will be to your satisfaction/meet with your
approval.
We hope/trust that you will have no objections/be agreeable to
Would you have any objection if